Fiona Apple Starts Kindness Movement

First off, I know Fiona Apple doesn’t need me to defend her or come to her rescue. I think Fiona is doing just as Fiona wants to. Last week, Fiona started a short concert tour. On October 3rd, the first night of the tour, someone heckled Fiona and she fought back. The person, a reported female, yelled out something about Fiona looking unhealthy and that Fiona used to be beautiful. Fiona had them turn the house lights up and throw this person out. She was performing one of my favorite songs at the time, The Waltz (Better Than Fine.) Here is a lyric from that song.

If you don't have a point to make Don't sweat it You'll make a sharp one being so kind And I'd sure appreciate it

It doesn’t surprise me that in this day of Tweeting, Facebooking and blogging that someone would miss the point of that lyric and say something awful. A few weeks ago I went to see Bill Mahr in concert. The people in front of me talked through the entire show. They didn’t talk to each other, they talked to Bill. They would say things like “right on” and “that’s true Bill.” This really amazed me. When I went to see Argo in the theater the guy behind me explained the movie point by point to his companion. I saw Bob Dylan in concert this summer. The guy in front of me talked nonstop. But as each song began he said, “This is my all time favorite song.” He would scream and whistle and then talk to his companion about the new banking rates he secured.

So make a point Scott. My point is simple. Everywhere I have been no one has said a peep to all the insensitive people who think their comments must be heard by everyone and right now. We are there to see the artist. Anyone who goes to see Fiona Apple has to know she is a sensitive soul who interprets her songs from her heart. I mean even Mandy Patinkin looks at her and says wow. Fiona did what was right. We need to silence the loud people at these events. We need to ask people to go back to a time when people were respectful. Your thoughts are not that important. Not just now at that moment but ever. No one is interested in hearing anyone but Fiona at a Fiona concert. Bob at a Dylan concert and shockingly enough, Ben Affleck at a Ben movie.

Oh yeah, I write about TV. I think TV causes a lot of this. Most people watch TV as a noise maker. In my house, we don’t talk during TV. On our famed Red Room TV nights, we pause if we need to discuss something. This is out of respect for the writers, actors and artists who created their work. I follow this same idea at a concert or movie. I am there to observe not interact. So while every article I read about Fiona’s “meltdown”, I never saw a place that said “Good job. Way to go Fiona, tell them to shut up or get out.” People are paying $75 a ticket in a time when that is a ton of money. No one is paying for your commentary. It would be nice if this would be the start of people thinking about where they are before they open their mouths. If you want to rant about something that no one cares about, get a blog. That’s what I did. One more thing. Great job Fiona! Thanks.